To make sense of this the government needs to understand that caring does not function like the money economy. Time spent on it is not a cost to society, but a vital benefit, and the more of it a society can do, the richer it becomes.

The arc of prosperity, it seems, bends towards an independent Scotland, regardless of the facts. I expect to find exactly this kind of wishful thinking, obfuscation, and make believe in Tuesday's White Paper in which the SNP will lay out its plans and projections for an independent Scotland.